“You can’t stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes”
– Winnie the Pooh –

Is everyone born with the ability to ‘go get em’? Or do some people get a slightly larer helping when the fall from the Tree of Life? Either way, its a little bit if a conundrum… the propulsion* to head steadily towards formulated plans, without hesitation or diversion, that some people seem pretty good at (say the Richard Branson’s of the world) compared to those that are much more easily swayed from course. What makes them so different from Average Joe who finds it that little bit harder to keep plodding on in the face of adversity?

 Me, I wonder if sometimes a slightly larger fuel injection wouldn’t go amiss? Or perhaps a pair of blinkers that might just aid my on my way. Funnily enough, I recently read that as well as the popular association with blinkers in the horse world, they are also ’small bright intensity enhancements’. How apt really - just as by focusing on our intended goal it will also become brighter, more intense until hopefully one day we’re smack bang on top of it and we’re blinded by it.

I think A.A. Mile got it pretty right when he commentated on the fact that we first need to venture out of our patch, following the way of love as we do, laying claim to what we should make of our lives. By expunging those doubts that lay within us about our abilities to achieve, we are able to take the steps towards where we want to be. Afterall….

It is Never too late to be what we could have been.

Amen to that.

 So what next for you? Will you start something new? A new hobby? Or will you do that thing you have always done, but just better? Find your passion, singing, walking, travelling whatever it might be…then do it more often (although obviously I’d like to direct you towards wholesome and legal passions please!). Make sure you’re doing it just for you though.

Isn’t it funny to think what we might be ablt to achieve if we didn’t think we would fail? Take George Dantzig, google him if you’ve time, who entering a lecture late at university copied down two maths problems from the board he incorrectly believed to be homework which he then went on to solve and submit. In fact, they were formerly unproved maths theorems being used simply to illustrate a point. The power of knowing no limits – imagine where we could end up with just a little more belief in ourselves. Have you written down 2 things you want to get done by the end of the month, however inconsequential they might be, or even by the end of the year? Start small though and make them achievable. Pin them up on the fridge,on the bedside cabinet or somewhere you’ll look at them (mines in my diary).     (And if you can’t think of anything, ask youself whats missing from your life,  if anything, are you ok? Are you happy? Would it be nice to have more time alone, or meeting new people? More funtime, time to relax or time to sleep? ).

And in the words of Winnie the Pooh, don’t expect it to come to you, you may be disappointed, sometimes you do have to chase after what you want.

* ( Propulsion, from the Latin: pro meaning before or forwards and pellere meaning to drive)

       www.samaritans.org    -  there to listen

The whole family having fun in the beautiful leaves near their home

To see more portraits captured in clients homes (and nearby locations) please click here

On the 31st October I travelled to Mirfield to photograph Vanessa & her gorgeous family: Gary, Kieron, Jamie and Nathan.  It was a gorgeous autumn day, the family were great fun and we captured so many images that I love!

Vanessa bought the shoot voucher as a birthday gift for Gary ….  (hope you are happy with the results Gary!)

Here are just a few samples from the shoot, there are many more I am keeping secret until the viewing later this week ……

Dad telling a very funny (made up) story!

Big brother Kieron in his bedroom (a moment of peace away from the twins!)

Jamie & Nathan can't wait to pile on their brother! squeeze .....

This room was very very tidy before I arrived! sorry Vanessa!

Jamie ... very cheeky and extra cute

Nathan ... also very cheeky, but very cute!

The family got unruly, so I locked them in the garden.

“Thanks Vanessa & Gary for arranging this shoot and for being up for a laugh in your shoot!  Your boys really are absolutely lovely, you must be so proud of them …. see you soon! “

To see more portraits captured in clients homes (and nearby locations) please click here

]]> http://prafulkr.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/twitter-confirms-major-cash-boost/ Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:12:14 +0000 Praful http://prafulkr.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/twitter-confirms-major-cash-boost/ http://theartofchangemaking.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/gsvc/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:23:36 +0000 ninaterol http://theartofchangemaking.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/gsvc/

IF YOU’VE GOT A GREAT IDEA FOR A SOCIAL ENTERPRISE, WE’VE GOT FUNDING HERE FOR YOU.

Global Social Venture Competition – Southeast Asia (GSVC-SEA) is now accepting applications for innovative and scalable social enterprise ideas until 8 January 2010.

What is a social enterprise?

A social enterprise is a self-sustaining organization–whether non-profit or for-profit–that addresses concrete needs and provides quantifiable and measurable benefits to underserved communities.

In GSVC parlance, social enterprises must be:

• Financially sustainable or profitable
• Self-sufficient on its earned revenue
• Has a quantifiable social and/or environmental bottom line incorporated into its mission and practices

Who is qualified to submit an entry?

According to the GSVC rules:

“Each entrant team must include a graduate business student from any business school or related field in the world or an individual who has graduated from a graduate business program within the past two years (from the date that the plan is first submitted). The graduate business student must be actively involved in the venture (ie, actively participating in development of the business plan and presentation or actively working on the business).”

What do winners stand to gain?

Winning entries get $4,000 as seed money for their idea, plus a host of other travel, networking, and educational benefits. Click HERE to find out what else is at stake.

Where can I find more information about GSVC?

Visit the GSVC website for more information about the competition. Also check the calendar for deadlines, as well as the guidelines and FAQs.

GSVC is  a global graduate-student business plan competition established in 1999 at the Haas School of Business of the University of California at Berkeley, USA. It was the first competition to promote entrepreneurial start-ups which not only offered financial returns, but also provided measurable social or environmental benefits. In order to expand, Haas joined with several of the world’s top business schools, including the Columbia Business School, London Business School, the Yale School of Management, Indian School of Business, and Thammasat Business School as partners of GSVC.

Finally realize that you need a good opt-in list. After reading countless articles and sought expert advices and have read many success stories of people creating a small fortune with opt-in lists you finally decide to have one of your own. Then it happens, you think you have known everything there is to know about opt-in lists and have followed their advices to the T and you still weren’t able to make a profit.

In fact, you may be losing money. You maybe hiring writers to help you out, or there are some expenses incurred, even if you have a big list, but only a very small percentage actually buys from you, your still losing profit. You’ll realize that after a few months when you see your statistics and sales figures.

So what could have gone wrong? Why have others succeeded where you have failed? The most common mistake is that you dived straight right in. You chose a topic where you think could be quite popular and would earn you money. This just not the case. Just because you wrote people from the list doesn’t mean they are going to buy instantly.

Here I will offer more advice, for those who have started an opt-in list and have failed, you can rejuvenate your failed venture. For those who are starting, here are three quick and easy ways to build a profitable opt-in list.
1) Get your customers to trust you and your products first. Just launching your opt-in list would not make you an expert and a believable seller. Put many articles first before you start an opt-in list. Write about the topic you know and have started and used for your site. Try to put forums first to gain knowledge about your customers about their wants and needs and target those wants and needs.

Join forums from other sites as well. Provide expert advices and recommendations. When you feel that people trust you already, you will be able to start your own opt-in list. You can build a base as well with other forum users. You can ask them to join your list. Friends are always good customers. Put up a link to your site so that they may be able to see what you’re business is all about.

The certain truth is, the money will only come in when the consumers and subscribers believe and trust in you. They want a product or service that could be a good exchange for their money. People are not going to buy something out of your recommendation if they don’t know you.

2) Find a product or service that people want and need. Although it may not be your forte, if you provide a service and product that you have researched and learned about well, you can carry it on forward. Invest your time, effort and money that you could sell as well as the buyers or subscribers of your opt-in list can use.

While it is true that it is best to sell something that you have interest in, there are not many people who have the same interest as you if you decide to sell something that is not entirely popular or profitable. Do your research well and you would see the profits come in. Also provide your subscribers with promotional material that they could actually use and spread around.

3) Make friends with other opt-in list users. This is basically beneficial especially if it is someone who has already launched a successful opt-in list. These are people that have the experience in this venture and experience is still the best teacher. While there are many articles available for you in the internet to use, there is nothing like getting a first hand account from someone you trust.

Experienced opt-in list users will be able to tell you what to do and what not to do because they have gone through it. While different situations occur for different people, the general concept can still be very helpful. There are many things to avoid and these people will be able to tell you which ones.

Building a profitable opt-in list don’t just happen overnight. There are many preparations and effort to do. Opt-in lists are built from scratch, as your list grows, you should also maintain the quality of your list. Keep it organized and manageable. Get or hire help if need be, just make sure that your subscribers are happy and satisfied and they will be willing to buy from you.

Another ZAK Article from

Http://zaksarticlesites.com

other links

Http://zaksproducts.com

Http://zakstravelguide.com

Have you ever wanted to get one of those special makeovers and photoshoots, like the ones where you pay $200 and then have to buy the photos afterwards? Personally, whether I could afford it or not, I’d be hesitant to give in to my urges and pay out for that. There are some cheaper places, but usually the makeover isn’t as good, or the photos you get are really small.

There’s another alternative, which costs less than $15. It’s featured on this website called “Make Me Beautiful”. The idea is, you send in a photo of yourself and have it glossed up, enhanced and made-over. The end result is quite nice. If you’re looking for a gorgeous photo of yourself to use on Facebook, Bebo, or a dating site, then you could get an existing photo transformed. It’s cheap and quick, and no one would ever know it’s not the original shot.

Have a look at some of the examples on the website:

I love the new marketing tools! I use them every day. Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, SEO, and Inbound marketing are all essential tools for any Internet marketing program.

But here is my gripe. More and more, I hear entrepreneurs and VCs claiming that this is all they need to launch companies or generate momentum for their young developing companies. I have also heard frequently “Customers will find us…organically” (BTW, I have a bridge to sell you). While I understand that many of these statements are motivated by the fact that new companies don’t have or need to preserve cash, when I hear blanket statements like this, I see a giant red flag waving in the wind.

Back in the day when I did a three-year stint as an analyst/management consultant, I specialized in the start-up world in the area of network convergence (ok – I am really dating myself here!). During that time, my team sat through close to 700 start-up briefings and we quickly became very astute predicting a start-up’s success based on what we heard in the initial briefing. By the end of each briefing, my colleagues and I would confer, count up the number of red flags we could see, and form our opinions on whether or not the company was going to make it. Our track record turned out to be very good.

Each one of my colleagues had a hot button – for me, I wanted to dig into their go-to-market strategy. If I believed that the company had a product that somebody actually needed (you would be surprised how many don’t) and that the management team had the fortitude and passion to see the venture through (this is really about believing in what you do and have the perseverance and know how to make it happen), then I wanted to understand the strategy and tactics of their go-to-market strategy.

I wanted to know how the team was going to help the sales force, the guy on the front lines, holding the bag every day because that person had the biggest mountain to climb. I wanted to know the details of who they wanted to partner with, how they were packaging themselves, how the company was going to generate leads, and how the company was going to shorten the sales cycle. I want to know how they were going to create the “push and pull” needed to generate momentum.

The devil is in the details. This is where we would usually see many red flags.

So, let’s examine the new tools.  SEO and Inbound Marketing allow you to be “found”.  Blogs, Facebook, and microblogging allow you to have conversations with prospects and customers. All are very good things. But each one of these tools serves a particular purpose in the marketing mix.

How can you be “found” or start a conversation if nobody knows that you exist? How can people search on a new product category that isn’t defined? Who is going to read the blog that you have spent days and weeks creating and populating with content? Why would anyone follow you on Twitter if they never heard of you?

I would argue that you need to communicate both broadly as well as in a targeted fashion using all types of tools – that you need to blend the old with the new. Even in this new world where Social Media or Inbound Marketing are without question important tools in your marketing mix, if you tell me these are all you need to market your company and product this is another one of those huge red flags.  I would place my bet that you will not be around next year or will not have had a lot of success to talk about. Good marketers understand that you need a number of activities and communications vehicles working in harmony to generate momentum with the buzz.

I understand that a lot of people are marketing their opportunities to many others. On LinkedIn, this is good, at least we get a sampling of what’s out there.
However, I just came from my company’s updating weekend In Chicago, Illinois USA. there is something in the wind that will make me more money than I might ever dream possible. The kicker is that it helps people to gain a quality of life and sickness prevention un precedented in the world, bar nothing, PERIOD!

We can forget about false science, and nutritional claims; about pie-in-the-sky promises of wealth without sweat equity– there are no such things.

Start with this website — http://DavidBozek.mtexpro.com/goland4 — and if you are drop-dead serious about helping your world, your people and your self to be better, then contact me.
We must remember — money is only a scorecard, and counts for NOTHING if we cannot help others. It is a tool, not a treasure, as it can disappear. Treasures are counted by people whose lives you have improved, whose health you have impacted, and whose loyalty you have won.

Go to the website. Get a taste of what a REAL system will do for you. Improve yourself, then improve your world.

I was trained this past weekend by a 41 year-old gentleman who is currently make $ 80,000/month. One of our speakers this weekend showed the CEO of the Company how to make $1,000,000 a month with a duplicable, by-the-numbers system that is learned from the time we start the program.

Read that again. $1,000,000 a month.

Another speaker, from Korea, applied herself and in 1 year went from nothing to $120,000 a month, and now only does training. Those who do not choose her system are invited to leave! She is that serious.

This is the same system that is available to you now, today, here. With a compensation plan better than anything out there to back you, there is no reason for you to deny yourself the success you deserve.
Go here: http://DavidBozek.mtexpro.com/goland4

Do it now!

AfricaNews.com - The most compelling interactive Africa community, sharing news, photos, weblogs, videos, mobile reports and the untold stories by African people.

The growing number of mobile phones, and increasing access to affordable Internet, has resulted in the rise of African content. The African ‘blogosphere’ exemplifies these changes. Three years ago an Internet search resulted in only a handful of postings from across the continent. Now there are thousands of African blogs and the numbers continue to grow exponentially. Global Voices (United States), Afrigator (South Africa), Akouaba (Congo), Naijapulse (Nigeria) and BlogSpirit (Uganda) have emerged as Internet platforms that aggregate, organize and distribute the ever-increasing amount of information.

The rise in African blogs is joined by further developments in the African mediascape. In the last three years Africa has seen the emergence of Reuters Africa, CNN Africa, CNBC Africa and many others. Other global players see new opportunities too. Heavyweight Google has opened offices in East Africa, setting up local search engines, expanding their Google maps initiative and supporting numerous efforts to translate the web into local languages. Google has also made a big push to support its Android technology that will make the mobile phone center to its African strategy. This effort is only highlighted by the company’s launch of Google SMS and the recent Google investment in the O3b Satellite project. These events confirm the company’s long-term commitment to the continent, a business that depends on content for its success.

Africa is also starting to produce talented programmers and ingenious projects emerge as a result. In 2006, Nathan Eagle of MIT launched an innovative curriculum needed to train local programmers in Nairobi. The program has now expanded to universities in 10 Sub Saharan countries and reflects growing demand and interest in the subject. The Makerere University Faculty of Computing and ICT in Kampala, Uganda is the largest program in Sub-Sahara Africa. The university is training thousands of students a year as ICT professionals. The faculty hosts a 600 seat call center and is host to a software incubation lab and programs dedicated to digital mapping and mobile programming. The faculty is consistently oversubscribed. Appfrica Labs and Software Factory Uganda in Kampala offer private sector examples where local programmers are given the space and tools needed to develop their skills and incubate their businesses. Samasource is another innovative effort that aims to source projects in North America that can then be developed by local African talent.

An emerging community and a host of dedicated events support these new talents. 2008 saw the first TED talks in Nairobi and impromptu BarCamps have taken place in locations as varied as Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Congo, Mauritius, Madagascar, Senegal, South Africa, Swaziland and Uganda. Dedicated workshops have been hosted by organizations like Facebook, Google and MobileActive08. These events focus on the potential local programmers have to develop Internet and mobile applications for the local market. Once unique efforts to establish viable networking platforms, new events emerge by the day.

It is not possible to speak about innovation in Africa without recognizing Ubuntu, a Debian-derived computer operating system based on GNU/Linux, otherwise a high quality desktop and server operating system that is freely available all over the world. Mark Shuttleworth, a successful South African entrepreneur founded the project in 2004, and is a driving force in mobilizing the open source movement on the continent. As a spin-off the project has resulted in the creation of a number of unique tools for free software developers, such as the Bazaar version control system and Launchpad.net. Sub-projects include specialized desktop environments for schools and platforms that address the needs of people in specific countries or industries e.g. Edubuntu and Kubuntu. These efforts play a critical role in making software available to developers across Africa, lowering barriers to participation, and part of a growing interest to engage local programming talents.

Africa’s lack of infrastructure presents unique opportunities and inspires creative thinking. Uninhibited by legacy infrastructure, as in N. America and Europe, Africa has been forced to innovate on mobile. In 2008 Vodafone introduced its M-Pesa mobile banking platform in Kenya. The company initially planned to register 200,000 new customers, what was an ambitious projection, and proceeded to surpass all expectations. The reality is that the demand for the M-Pesa service was so high their systems crashed and the company has been trying to catch up ever since. Within one year M-Pesa was already servicing 1.6 million Kenyans. Hammond, a director at Vodafone says, ‘look, microfinance is great; Yunus deserves his sainthood. But after 30 years, there are only 90 million microfinance customers. I’m predicting that mobile-phone banking will add a billion banking customers to the system in five years. That’s how big it is.’ Needless to say, mobile banking projects are being rolled out across the continent and are now innovating network structures and models that can be applied elsewhere. Increasingly, people from around the world come to Africa to learn about how such a service might work in their own country back in N. America or Europe.

The power of mobile is also being linked to the web. MXit is an example that demonstrates local innovation with wide scale impact. Developed in South Africa, MXit is a free instant messaging software application that runs on GPRS/3G mobile phones and on PCs. The website explains, ‘It allows the user to send and receive one-on-one text and multimedia messages to and from other users, as well as in general chat rooms. MXit also supports connection to other instant messengers such as MSN messenger, ICQ and Google Talk.’ The service is cheap compared to SMS. Instead of charging for one-on-one messages, and because messages are sent via the Internet, the cost per message is greatly reduced (typically 1c for a MXit message compared to approximately 75c per SMS). As a result, MXit has become a popular communication platform with over 11 million users. They calculate about ‘17 million log-ons per day and over 250 million messages sent/received per day.’ This project successfully shows that there is local demand for information services and its no surprise to see similar services emerging in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda.

The success of mobile-based platforms does not stop with transferring money and/or messaging services. Mobile phones can also serve as a source of employment. Building on several years of experience, and learning from his interactions with local programmers, Nathan Eagle has gone on to launch TxtEagle as an innovative outsourcing initiative. He has created a service where African’s exchange a few spare minutes, needed to complete short assignments on their mobile phone, in exchange for mobile phone credit. This project highlights some of the innovative thinking that can be inspired by a truly unique African context.

Mobile phones are also being used to monitor, track and report on local events. This is part of a growing effort to bring transparency to issues that plague the continent. Ushahidi is an example of a project born out of an African experience. In 2008, and as a result of mixed election results, Kenya witnessed unexpected post election violence. As the media storm began to descend on the country, which remains a faithful recipient of foreign development aid and depends on tourism as its largest source of foreign currency, the government responded by closing down both traditional and new media channels. The government made a proactive effort to ‘lock’ the local flow of information.

Ushahidi, which means ‘testimony’ in Swahili, is an open source engine developed in the effort to better map out post election reports of violence in the county. On their website they explain that, ‘the core Ushahidi platform allows for a plug-in and extensions that can be customized for different locales and needs. The tool are open source allowing others to download, implement and use the engine so that they can bring awareness to crises in their own region.’ The core engine is built on the premise that gathering crisis information from the general public provides new insights into events happening in near real-time. In an African context people understand this better than anywhere else in the world. Where infrastructure is so limited, communication so costly, each kilobyte has significantly higher value. It is important to mention that programmers from several African countries have been fundamental to the project’s development and highlights a new generation of skills, talent and a rising African power to innovate locally.

This is an early initiative that shows how the development of an application, inspired by a political crisis in what was previously believed to be one of East Africa’s most stable societies, can be applied elsewhere. The platform has already been used to monitor events in the DRC, Madagascar and the recent conflict in Gaza. At the time of writing, there were also plans to use the Ushahidi engine as a monitoring tool during the 2009 elections in India. Because Ushahidi was born out of an African experience, where lack of communication infrastructure forces the design of inventive solutions; it is now positioned to meet crises anywhere in the world.

The entire African ICT space is experiencing extraordinary growth and development that changes the face of the continent forever. Like the success of mobile banking, now is the time to realize that innovation can also come from Africa. It is important to recognize the rise of local African talent, a new breed of individual that has the motivation, skill and power to develop solutions that tap into local opportunities and address local needs. Now is the time to explore these developments in more detail and from the perspective of the end user. Taking the time to recognize this dynamic context in which new actors emerge, it is paramount we review the ICT4D debate and our own role in this process. This is in an effort to better understand the changes on the ground and their implications for the future. In this way we can start to learn from these developments and benefit from this high level of innovation. Young programming talents are only now starting to emerge in African countries but the potential is clear. The more people in Africa who see the power to shape the technologies they use, the more Africa is capable of meeting its own needs. In turn, these new talents contribute to the global information society and play an active role in shaping its future.

A bit of posting went on this week. Here are some of the things posted and delivered.

The Extremely wobbly owl T-shirt .... a special order.

Christmas broach

Little girls love these

Christmas broach heading OS

Upcycled name plates

.... and a tease. More T-shirts will be revealed soon.

Oh…yes…. I have a new tag! Well I never had an old tag, so technically I should say. I have a tag. Doesn’t really sound as good.

In the end just be confident about yourself and have faith in your venture.

Please see the blog written November 11, 2009 in the online version of The Wall Street Journal entitled “Start-Up CEOs Gripe About VCs’ Lack Of Operating Experience” (http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2009/11/11/start-up-ceos-gripe-about-vcs-lack-of-operating-experience/tab/print/ ).

The main point of the article is based on a survey of start–up CEO’s that points to a lack of real world entrepreneurial and operational experience at the board level. Cava was founded on this very premise. Having been a veteran of five previous start-up experiences, I can tell you first hand that the lack of operational talent in the board room is frightening, especially in early stage companies. That is not to say there aren’t smart people in the room or those wanting and willing to help. The problem is if you haven’t woken up at 3am in the morning worried about making payroll that day, or how to get the marketing plan done to drive traffic growth, you cant possibly be all that useful. Being strategic is fine, but what early stage companies typically need most is tactical help. Be there to help scrub the pipeline. Be able to help create an HR plan that makes use of limited resources. Know what suppliers might be consolidated, negotiated with or added. Open a few doors at prospective clients that could change the game on the quarterly plan. These are all real issues and ones that you must have dealt with regularly to add value. If you make your entrepreneurs successful, you will be successful. Influence where you can. Be willing to be operational, even if it means sitting on fewer boards and getting more tactical with each.

Jim Caparro, a member of the Cava Network, puts it this way:

There is an artful balancing act between an entrepreneur executing on his vision and building a successful business, and the interests and motivations of a funding sponsor. Having experienced it firsthand, I totally appreciate the challenge.

These inherent conflicts need not be overwhelming to either side. It’s all about aligning interests and expectations within realistic timelines for both sides. Then the “art” is managing the process and relationship in a way that the environment created seems supportive and encouraging, yet demanding of results. Build a strong and progressive culture that motivates leaders. Many say it, few execute it.

Good luck investing out there. The opportunities are exciting, lets make them successful.

modal ventura merupakan……….

During the feudal days, knowedge of Latin and Greek was the criterion for recognising a gentleman, as a learned man. English was not considred a language. There was much opposition to translating bible into English.

Almost a similar approach was noticeable in India. Here Samskrutam was the language of the elite.  All dicussions and philosophical debates were in that language, including poetry, drama etc. The poet who first wrote his poetry in Malayalam was rediculed as a half poet! Malaayala had no grammar even. It was just a dialect. More than half of its words were borrowed from Tamil. When, the writers began using it, they added Samskrutam words liberally. Today, it is a mixture of both. English phrases were blindly translated into Samskrutised Malayalam. Konakam, a piece of cloth used as cover to hide private parts, became coupeenam.
Kodungallur Kunjukuttan Thampuran (K.T.), a close friend of my maternal grandfather, who was very intelligent and took interest in literature and arts, from whom I must have inherited  something in this direction, translated the whole MAHABHARATAM into simple Malayalam sans Samskrutam words. I strongly recommend this book to every Keralite, as our great epic is not only the greatest anti-war propaganda, but it is a source of wisdom.

They say, there is nothing that is not found in this book.
There is an anecdot about how K.T. was doing his translation.
Hearing about this great venture, the populr poet Vallathol, who established  Kalamandalam, at Cheruthuruti, Shoranur, near Bharatapuzha, went to see him. K.T., who was concentrating on a thick volume and dictating to three men well versed in the art of hearing, retaining in memory a whole stanza and writing down at lightning speed, as there is no short hand in my language. Vallathol thought he was dictating what he had already written in the book. When he came close, his surprise knew no bounds to see that K.T. WAS INDEED CONCENTATING ON THE SAMSKRUTAM TEXT AND DICTATING THE MALAYALAM VERSION !
As he cannot wait even for a moment, he engaged three men. He took no time in doing the tranlation into Malayalam. If his writers forgot something and wanted K.T. TO REPEAT A PARTIULAR STANZA, HE WOLD SAY A NEW  ONE !
Now, if some one is able to perform such a feat, he will find a mention in the guinnes BOOK OF RECORDS

Catherine and William

On the 29th October I travelled to Ikley, to photograph William, Catherine and their fabulous mum Janet.  We even got the guinea pigs in a few shots! It was a chilly but beautiful day, and we made the most of the gorgeous autumnal colours and backdrops. We started the shoot with a few shots on studio backdrops, then we ventured outside. I had a lovely day with this family, they were up for a laugh, and I am so happy with the images we captured.  I will show only a few of my favourites here, so that the family have plenty of surprises for the private viewing in a few weeks.

“Thanks Catherine for booking this shoot, and for making me feel so welcome in your home, see you soon!”

The 3 gorgeous guinea pigs

Beautiful Catherine

William

A family hug on the black back drop

The nearby bridge

Catherine & William's last photo's of the day.

Investment in Canadian emerging high technology companies is headed for its lowest level in 14 years, an industry association said Tuesday.

Canada’s Venture Capital & Private Equity Association said a total of $191 million was invested in the industry in the third quarter, down 51 per cent from the $388 million raised in the same period in 2008.

Investment in emerging Canadian technology is headed toward its worst levels in 14 years.(CBC)

The study looked at industries ranging from clean technology ? such as renewable energy ? to biotech.

Ontario was worst hit, it said, with $24 million invested, a drop from a year ago of 87 per cent. The province took in only 13 per cent of all Canadian venture capital.

Dollars invested over the first nine months of this year totalled $682 million, a 36 per cent drop from the $1.1 billion raised in the same period a year ago. At this rate, capital raising for the year could come in below the $1-billion mark for the first time since 1995.

The association said despite a “handful” of larger deals done during the summer ? such as the $50 million US financing of Montreal’s Enobia Pharma ? the average amount per firm was $2 million. Last year’s average was $3.2 million.

The association has called for the federal and provincial governments to introduce investment incentives, including improved tax credits and requirements for major government contractors to invest in new and emerging technology companies.

It also wants Ottawa to set up a panel of company executives, university presidents, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists to come up with a plan for supporting Canada’s technology industries.

Former Hanover Corp. execs face fraud chargesAirport traffic pickup will be slow: DBRS

I wasn’t going to post today, but maybe just a quick one, because I have exciting news.

The pink humbug bag by harrsydesk

This bag is featured for the next two days in a collection (called a treasury) made by another seller on etsy. The treasury features selected products available on etsy.

If you want to see what I am talking about check it out. (It’s finished now)

And while we are on the subject of the pink Humbug….. a couple of weeks ago it also featured on the blog of another etsy seller Christopher and Me . Check out her really sweet  and fresh baby products. I ‘met’ Sarah through the give aways last month.

Now off to complete some Christmas orders.

November 10, 2009

Breaking Down Mobile Money Opportunities – Part 1

Does anyone else feel challenged keeping up w/ vendors, regulations, alliances, pilots and investments in the mobile space? As I get older, my tendency is to categorize and sort for storage in my decaying gray matter. Upon encountering a new idea, I’m fortunate to have some very good friends to help me analyze it and assess it. I’ve certainly learned that my ability, to categorize and sort in isolation, has a very high error rate. The added benefit of conversation is to further the human network (as I can depend less on my decaying neural one).

I have never seen such global fragmentation of: ISVs, ASPs, FSIs, MNOs, regulators, TSMs (Trusted Service Managers), Merchants, Acquirers, Handset Manufacturers, Standards, and Customers (this may well be a 100 part series).  Two of my favorite attempts at market segmentation are below

Jan Ondrus INFORGE – Ecole des HEC

Even these diagrams are not comprehensive as they fail to take into account such things as microfinance (unbanked/underbanked), regulatory issues (cross border, AML, KYC),  consumer protection, carrier dominance, credit bureaus, merchant POS infrastructure, customer education, broadband/3G availability,  …etc.

After speaking with over 50 start ups globally (and several VCs, FSIs and MNOs), my opinion is that mobile payments is likely to stay “regional” for the next 5-10 years. Success will be driven by well established, trusted companies with an existing mobile/financial network or with large payees/beneficiaries (government, transit, retailers, …) capable of creating a critical mass of consumers with a strong convenience play (ex. HK Oyster Card).

Within Tier 1 OECD countries, there is opportunity in chaos. From a banking perspective, NFC integration into mobile handsets is the top global opportunity, with a significant consumer convenience play. The ability to pull out your mobile phone to pay at a cash register, open a locked door, store coupons, receive marketing, send money across the globe, and store all of your other “digital keys” will combine with the unique capabilities of mobile (location, always on, …) and financial services (demographic, spending ability, spending habits, …) to provide a tremendous “wave” of innovation, investment and M&A activity.

Over the next 10 years, emerging markets will be riding an even greater wave as the absence of infrastructure is bridged by access to low cost mobile devices capable of providing both access to information and services. The developments here will likely take on a much different focus then developed countries, but with a much larger global impact on the quality of life of 80% of the world’s population. In the West we take for granted such basic infrastructure as: consumer protection, contracts, law and access to an unbiased judiciary.  Given these challenges, concepts such as: “Trust” external to one’s community, and “banking” are foreign. The bank opportunity, in the developing market, is to leverage mobile as a platform to serve 600M-800M new customers over the next 6-8 year.

There will likely be great differences in development of mobile payment between the developed and “developing” world, hence banks should strongly consider separating the responsibility for approaching them. Banks and payments, typically play an infrastructure role to commerce handling such things as authorization, clearing, settlement, reporting, … etc. Banks are uniquely chartered to serve this function and commerce is served by having a reliable, regulated entity responsible for the exchange values between parties.

Evaluating Mobile Opportunities

I would greatly appreciate your feedback on the following thoughts below (as I evolve my categorization process). Yesterday I was on the phone with one of my friends, payments head top US bank, over 30 years experience in structuring some very large M&A in both card and retail… a “realist” is an understatement. Prior to my call with Him, I had a well structured set of questions to assess mobile initiatives for investment:

1. Who is the customer?
     a. Geography(s)
     b. Profitability
     c. Existing Bank Relationships/Products
    d. Access to mobile
    e. Access to broadband
2. What is the consumer value proposition?
    a. Why is it so urgent that the consumer cannot wait until they get home or office access to their computer?
    b. Speed
    c. Convenience
    d. Cost
    e. Loyalty
    f. Alignment to trends
    g. Distribution: Customer acquisition costs
    h. Other
3. What is the merchant value proposition?
    a. Pricing/MDR
    b. Loyalty
    c. Risk
    d. Technology/Cost
    e. Regulatory
    f. Speed
    g. Refund/Dispute
4. Banking/Payment Network Value Proposition
    a. Competes or aligns with existing products?
    b. What current products target this consumer?
    c. What is transaction volume and growth?
    d. What is their primary market (ex PayPal – eBay) and are they expanding?
    e. Does it connect to an existing payment network? Who manages switch risk?
5. What are the Dependencies
    a. What change is required?
    b. Consumer Behavior? (Who bears marketing expense)
    c. Merchant POS?
    d. Regulatory (US/EU/ Other)
    e. IP/IP Access
6. Is it a separate network? If so,
    a. Who makes the rules?
    b. What is compliance burden?
    c. Who is responsible for compliance?
    d. Have regulators reviewed?
    e. Servicing: Who owns customer dispute/resolution?
    f. How are rates/fees set? Who negotiates them?
    g. How long has it existed? Fraud/weaknesses?
    h. Has it been tested at volume (ex. Paypal has 300+ person team in risk)
    i. …etc (additions appreciated)
7. Financials
    a. Invested capital, valuation, BOD experience?
    b. How does it support Parent’s business model?
    c. Pricing: Sensitivity, sustainability
    d. Revenue, Burn rate, Cost Structure, Debt
    e. Market share.
    f. Distribution: costs
    g. Sales Pipeline (realism) or Direct to Consumer (marketing plans)
    h. Capital raising plans
8. Exec team
    a. Knowledge of Customer, Market, Competition, Value Prop
    b. Customer Reference (consistency)
    c. B2B vs. B2C
    d. Experience in payments
    e. Experience in financial services
    f. Global/US
    g. Network
9. Partnerships

(As you can tell.. I am a list person). As I spoke of some new opportunities, my “bank” friend put the new companies through his much simplified filter:

1. What service does it provide that I can’t do today?
2. Why do I care?

The shocking result is that there were very differences in the results of our decision frameworks. The purposes of this Blog are: engage community in defining categories, increase investment (where appropriate) by assisting those with capital in their assessment, identify new opportunities in payments. 

The first 2 opportunities seem to be universally agreed to as an opportunity for mobile money (“new payment” mechanism), as they are not services that banks provide today:

1. CASH REPLACEMENT – Developed Countries
2. UNBANKED – Emerging Markets (multiple subcategories)

Categorization of payment schemes that do not fall into the categories above are challenging. Which attributes should drive the categorization? My tendency, in process of categorization, is to always segment based upon customer or customer usage. This approach leads to market quantification and I will proceed in this vein until it stops working for me. Separating the unbanked (above emerging markets), the draft category list is below.

Yes this is too complex. Since I’m not writing a novel here I will focus on the ones which I’ve had some interaction, or which are exhibiting exciting growth trends. The complexity and potential for mCommerce is precipitating some very curious investment decisions, some of which can only be categorized as a “bet” that a team will “figure it out” sometime in the future (See Nokia-Obopay). Companies which are able to deliver a focused value proposition, build core competencies, partner, and adapt their plans will be best positioned to ride the storm. I’m attempting to take on the role of a weather forecaster, while investing in the areas that are likely to have the best harvest.

“Mobile Money” Assumptions

Prior to reading any of further, perhaps I should state my “payment” assumptions that predicate many of the views to follow. Of course good people will disagree, and I appreciate the dialog.

             I.      Banks compete where there is profit incentive, and there are very few “new” payment types where a bank cannot compete with an existing product. Retail Banks have 2 competing internal organizations: Banking and Card. Retail Bank earnings are tightly tied to the products that surround payment. 

          II.      Banks and MNOs are notoriously hard to partner with. There seems to be (at least) 4 communities that don’t collaborate frequently: Banks, MNOs, Start Ups/VCs, NGOs, … Each of these has their own (competing) objectives.

       III.      The US payment market is much different than the rest of the world (not better). Add another dimension to the parties listed above.

       IV.      Developing ecosystems will display much chaos before clear trends emerge. Chaos in payments is anathema to trust. Trust is necessary for mainstream customer adoption.

          V.      The most successful non bank which has emerged in payments is PayPal, their success is due to their ability to focus. Initially on eBay, then leveraging its success and focusing on 2 unique “weakness” in card transactions: Card Not Present (risk management) and the inability of the existing Card network to adapt (complexity).

       VI.      Silicon Valley hype machine surrounding mobile is in full gear. There are some gems, but hard to separate from the dirt. Most private valuations and M&A transactions to date have very little connection to reality.

    VII.      Europe’s “success” in mobile payments adoption provides insight into profitability of the service(s). In almost every case, the margin opportunities exist separate from the transaction. This “evolved” ecosystem seems to model cash, particularly in the Nordics where Mobile Payments are becoming “ubiquitous”.

 VIII.      Emerging market dynamics are completely unique, and there will be many unexpected “leap frog” developments as business, technology, financial services and regulations adapt to serve the world’s developing nations. Any broad categorization of these opportunities is difficult separate from the market dynamics (Example Vodafone has an 80% market share in Kenya that drove MPesa).

       IX.      US MNOs are working to define how they can take part in transaction revenue (e.g. control). International markets are much different.

Valuation

For investors assessing start ups attacking the confluence of “payments” and “mobile”, historical view of past transactions and investments is of little value. In the US, the big players (MNOs and Banks) have not acted yet, and when they do it will impact every mCommerce company in your portfolio.  Take a look at Japan, HK, Nordics, SG to see alternate visions of what the future could hold. Ensure the prospect has a sustainable value prop in the current market, and a management team capable anticipating market moves to adapt it.

Select Transactions

MobileMonday provides an excellent overview of the current deal flow in mobile.  A few select transactions are listed below (further detail is available).

Mobile Monday

It is apparent (from the complete data set) that capital raising valuations for “mobile services” have very little basis. FT Partners provides an excellent detailed look at M&A activity in financial services space, and should be considered when evaluating mobile money investments.

Payment Providers – Valuation (Source JPMC)

Next Post – Assessing Cash Replacement

In my experience, most aspiring entrepreneurs share a few common traits. They want to start their own business so they can:

1. Quit their job & work for themselves
2. Have more free time to do what they want, when they want
3. Enjoy the financially independent lifestyle

It is also through experience that I have discovered something almost all aspiring entrepreneurs have in common: lack of self-discipline. As a result, efficient development & planning in their concept suffers due to the inability to effectively organize thoughts & process them into action. It’s not that they are incompetent or unskilled by any means; these folks just lack the direction needed to churn an idea into a tangible entity.

Think about it for a minute. In a job, you are usually trained to perform the duties you were hired for, right? You are also given a manual to follow in case any mishaps come up. To boot, you have somebody periodically reviewing your performance to ensure quality. When you work for yourself, you are accountable to only you. You blaze the trail. You make the rules. You dictate your success. And many aspiring entrepreneurs are simply not prepared to handle the pitfalls that come along with this unfamiliar territory. Thus, they are forced to learn as they go. More often than not, this ultimately leads to failure.

Before you quit your job, it is important to make sure you have all your bases covered & that you’re best prepared to face the unknown. Here is an easy & effective business building tool you can implement right now into your concept & continuously reap the rewards from:

Start a Journal
Open a word document file on your computer or create a document journal online through Gmail or buy a notebook at your office supply store. Whatever your preferred medium, do it right now. Create it so that it is easily accessible, so you can jot down your thoughts at any given time each day. All the better if you can record multiple entries throughout each day. But either way, let it all out & don’t hold back.

Review Progress
At the end of each day, after your last journal entry, create a list of completed tasks that you have completed for the day that has added strength to the business concept. Just file these under “Daily Accomplishments” for the specific day. No matter how big or how small, list them all down. At the end of the week, review all of your Daily Accomplishments for the week. Read them over a couple times & let them sink in. Repeat this task at the end of the month as well.

It sounds simple & may seem very elementary, but is the single most effective tool one can utilize at the concept stage. It forces you to stop, review & think. It helps to keep you on track with your overall plan of attack. It also develops proactive thinking which will help institute a sense of balance as your business concept grows. The act of recording a journal allows you, the entrepreneur, to explore all the ups, downs, ins & outs of your venture in a free thinking forum. Take action today & start your journal!

Zara and their gorgeous dog.

On October the 28th I travelled to Wakefield to photograph Jill, Paul, Zara, Jordan.  I had a lovely day with this family, Zara and Jordan are such sweet children, and were brilliant fun to photograph.  We captured a huge variety of images inside and outside at their family home, we even included their rabbit, dog, and horse in a few shots!  The family were up for trying all sorts of different ideas, and I am so happy with the photographs we captured.  I only want to show a few of my favourites on here, so that the family have loads of surprises in store for the viewing in a few weeks.

“Thanks Jill, Paul, Zara and Jordan for being fabulous! see you soon ….”

Jedi training .....

Jordan, Paul, Jill & Zara

Fun times on the trampoline

Beautiful mummy Jill

A few black & Whites including the rabbit!

Zara's last photo of the day! chilling with her soft toys.

Jordan's favourite hobbie .. he's great at it too, and has trophies to prove it!

To see more portraits captured at clients homes, click here to visit the gallery

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No, I haven’t given up on Christmas, but rather have come up with the first harrysdesk decoration.

Yes, it’s upcycled from men’s ties….what else!

You can purchase them through my etsy store ….or submit your advent calendar photos and contents  for a chance to win one at 168hrs , my dear friend Nic’s blog.

The harrysdesk tree. No two the same.